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TAGS

TARGET AUDIENCE

Adult, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

PERFORMANCE GROUP

High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Professional Theatre

Musical cultists will remember this show as the first Broadway collaboration of Kander and Ebb as well as the Tony Award-winning debut of Liza Minnelli as Flora Mezaros. With a new, updated book that presents a romance of charming simplicity set amidst the American communist agitation during the Depression of the 1930's. Is Flora a "red menace" or just that good old Broadway stand by: a Girl in Love? Songs include "A Quiet Thing", "All I Need is One Good Break", "The Flame", "Dear Love" and "Sing Happy". From the writers of Cabaret, Zorba and Chicago.

REVIEWS

"A highly entertaining evening." - Newsday

"Covers familiar territory with a refreshing lightness of touch." - New York Magazine

"The score is consistently winning and often quite funny." - WQXR Radio

Flora, The Red Menace was first presented on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre in May of 1965. It was directed by George Abbott and was Liza Minnelli's Broadway debut.

Characters

CASTING

5m, 4f

CASTING ATTRIBUTES

Expandable casting

CASTING NOTES

Cast plays a variety of roles

FLORA MESZAROS - A young fashion illustrator, full of hope, optimism, and a desire to take over the world. She is absolutely guileless, willing to take on any challenge, without a trace of brassiness. HARRY TOUKARIAN - A shy, intense, oddly handsome artist. He stammers, especially when he is nervous. He has a romantic vision of how to make society perfect.CHARLOTTE - A bit of a misfit, a party zealot, she is determined to spread Communism singlehandedly. She is dry, droll -- the quintessential comic villian.WILLY - Very boyish, spirited. A songwriter who plays the clarinet, Willy, in a sense, serves as the narrator of the play.ELSA - Extremely practical, pulled together, she has aspirations to be a fashion designer and has yet to get up the nerve to get her sketches around town.MR. WEISS - A former Communist who has lost his jewelry shop to the Depression, he is kindly, knowing.MAGGIE - Very innocent. Honest. Maggie came to New York from Oklahoma following a dust storm. She is now trying to get a break with her dance partner, Kenny.KENNY - Moving with Ray Bolger-like limberness and comedy, he is very serious about his dancing and determined to get ahead.MR. STANLEY - Arrow Shirt Collar-perfect. The perfect department store executive. Easily disliked.

George Abbott was an important director, author, and producer, whose distinguished career in the American theater spanned more than seven decades and gained him the title of “Mr. Broadway.” Abbott wrote his first play, a comedy-farce entitled Perfectly Harmless, while studying at the University of Rochester in 1910. Three years later he made his Broadway debut playing a drunken college boy in The ... view full profile

Other George Abbott titles:

Fred Ebb (1928 – 2004) won Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Awards for his work as a writer, director and composer. His collaborations with John Kander, Bob Fosse, Judy Garland, Barbara Streisand and Liza Minnelli made him a legend in the New York theater community. Mr. Kander and Mr.Ebb wrote and made famous the city’s unofficial theme song “New York, New York.” ... view full profile

Other Fred Ebb titles:

John Harold Kander was born on March 18, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri to Harold and Berenice (Aaron) Kander. He was exposed to music at an early age. Kander believed that a bout of tuberculosis as a baby, which had kept him isolated from other people, had actually helped him develop his sense of sound. At age six he began taking piano lessons from a woman in the neighborhood. Kander spent many ... view full profile